K. Tepetes () • M. Spyridakis • C. Hatzitheofilou Department of Surgery University Hospital of Larissa Larissa 41110, Greece E-mail: ktepetes@yahoo.co.uk Introduction A loop colostomy may be carried out either as independent procedure or as a diverting colostomy proximal to an anas- tomosis. Minor local complications are quite common and are mostly managed with conservative measures. Stomal prolapse can often be managed nonoperatively too, espe- cially when a definitive closure of the colostomy is antici- pated. Generally, the local conservative measures are tem- porarily efficacious and application problems, skin excori- ation, mucosal bleeding and incarceration may become indications for surgical correction of the prolapse. Many techniques have been described for the treatment of stomal prolapse, including re-seating of the stoma, in situ recon- struction following laparotomy, etc. Most of these proce- dures lead to some morbidity especially when they are car- ried out under general anesthesia in fragile elderly patients. We describe a simple and fast technique for the local surgi- cal correction of stomal prolapse under minor sedation. Surgical technique An 85-year-old woman patient suffering from hepatic, pul- monary and skeletal metastatic disease due to rectal cancer underwent a palliative loop colostomy (sigmoidostomy) at another hospital. Four months later she was admitted to our hospital because of significant stomal prolapse causing local infection and bleeding. The patient underwent a local reconstruction of the prolapsing distal limb of the loop colostomy after intravenous administration of 5 mg mida- zolam. The prolapsing segment approximately 10 cm long was held upwards with two Babcok clamps and then a GIA 60-3.8 linear stapler (Autosuture, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA) was applied and fired vertically across the lateral aspect (Fig. 1). K. Tepetes • M. Spyridakis • C. Hatzitheofilou Local treatment of a loop colostomy prolapse with a linear stapler Received: 28 September 2004 / Accepted: 29 December 2004 / Published online: 8 July 2005 TECHNICAL NOTE Abstract Stomal prolapse is considered to be a common complication especially following loop colostomies. A variety of methods has been reported for the management of this condition, with many of them requiring extensive reconstruction of the stoma under anesthesia. We report a simple and fast technique for the local correction of the prolapse under minor sedation. A linear stapler device was applied for the amputation and reconstruction of the pro- lapse stoma at the desired level. Key words Loop colostomy prolapse • Linear stapler Tech Coloproctol (2005) 9:156–158 DOI 10.1007/s10151-005-0217-2